Yin and Yang
by Winged Lady Colette
Summary: Twins were born that cold December night. One boy, one girl. A boy with eyes as black as night and a girl with eyes as white as snow.
1. Flames

**Author's Note: So, I started writing this a very long time ago, at least a year ago, and decided to keep putting it off, keep putting it off until I got the really strong urge to finish the first chapter. I'm not sure how I feel about it, seeing as I mostly do Sakura time travel fics, but I wanted to give it a try. I don't know whether I'm going to continue it or not, but here it is. As for Reincarnation, I'm about half way done with the chapter so be expecting it, hopefully, within the next couple of days.**

 **Disclaimers: I own nothing!**

 **Warnings: Child death, OOCness, language, un-beta'd.**

 **Word Count: 5,290**

But in the main family, twin births are especially celebrated. Two for the struggles of one. The Uchiha Lady has a very frail constitution making it hard for her to have babies and carry them to term. The fact that this made it difficult for her to carry their original heir, made people weary to allow the first born into battle when he grows older, or encourage that the clan leader seek out another wife in order to have more children, but he refused.

The woman he married was the only one for him and he made that clear to everyone.

Once the Lady fell pregnant again, everyone hoped and prayed for the best. Everyone was extra delicate with the Lady, hoping that with just that little bit less stress, she would be able to maintain the pregnancy. So, when the time came and she gave birth to two healthy babies; one boy and one girl. They were a bit small but the healers didn't appear to be concerned and that night the Lady held all three of her babies to her.

The heir, who was two at the time and the two new-borns.

It was a peaceful, quiet night with two parents and three children. For a small, meaningful night, there was no war or death or clan business to worry about. It was just a small family that got two beautiful new additions. No one dare say anything about one being born a girl, especially during wartimes when everyone only wanted boys to boister their numbers.

The oldest boy, the heir, his name is Madara. The second born, the boy, his name is Izuna and the final one, the girl, her name is Hinata.

"My lord," the healer says, half leaned over the girl a few days later. "I... I am sorry my lord."

The Lady sat upright, dark eyes widening in surprise, her dark hair spilled over one shoulder as she cradles the newborn boy close, worried that something is wrong. Her eyes flicker between her husband and the healer, worried.

Tajima Uchiha, the clan leader, stands up slowly from his wife's side, holding a two year old Madara in his arms as he gets close to the wiggling baby on the floor in front of the healer and finally gets a good look down at her face. A splitting image of her brother in face shape and skin color and even eyes shape. The only thing that was different, was the pale, milky eyes that looked around the room, almost unseeing.

Tajima's shoulders droop a bit.

"What's wrong?" The Lady asks. "Tajima, what's wrong with our daughter?"

"I am sorry, Mahirin," Tajima says softly, shaking his head. "I'm sorry."

"What?" Mahirin asks sharply, making Izuna jolts a bit in her arms. He squirms a bit then starts to whine.

"I am sorry, my lady," the healer says softly. "The girl is blind."

* * *

"Hinata!" Madara calls out, dark eyes wide and happy. He lays on his belly in front of the squirming six month old girl while the six month old boy was being fed on the other side of the room. "Come to me, Hinata!"

The little girl pushes herself up a bit on her hands and blinks a few times rapidly, head bobbing wildly without any real strength to hold it up. She can't really crawl yet, like Izuna can, somewhat, but she's not that far behind him. Her clear eyes locate Madara's and she smiles, letting out a cute little giggle and makes cooing baby noises.

"Mommy, she's smiling at me!" Madara says, now three years old.

Mahirin offers a little smile, looking over at her oldest and youngest from over her shoulder. "Your sister can't see you, Madara, you know that."

Madara tilts his dark head, leaning from one side to the other, watching as Hinata's eyes follow the movements. Madara blinks a few times, intelligent mind, even one so young, begins to work a bit. He studies her eye movement and smiles a bit, secretly to himself as if he has something complex completely figured out, but he didn't say anything about it.

He gets bored easily and goes to play with his other toys.

Hinata's cool white eyes follow him away before focusing on the room in front of her, trying to push herself up so that she can look around the room with more control but her strength wasn't enough to hold her up just yet, so she fell back to the ground and had to try all over again, despite how tired she was getting. She wanted to explore the world, one small push at a time.

Madara pauses playing with his toys, turning around slightly to look over at his baby sister, watching her try to push herself up again. Through the haze of darkness that should shroud her vision, she finds her eldest brother before cooing happily and smiling at him, wiggling with a bit more intensity, wanting the shiny toy in his hand for her own. He smiles back, proud of the secret that they now share, and looks away again.

* * *

When Hinata was two years old, people finally accepted that she wasn't blind. She could see, but people speculated that it was only a bit. That her sight was as bad as her eyes appeared. But as Hinata grew older, she once again proved them wrong by having amazing eyesight. She could see better than anyone else. Her eyes weren't constrained like everyone else's were.

There was very little that Hinata couldn't see, they've all come to learn. As she grew older and her eyes began to mature more and more, her sight became even better. She could see in all directions. She could even see behind her, making it impossible for someone to sneak up on her if she was careful. Hinata had a unique ability that no one could explain and whispers began that Hinata may not actually be the Uchiha Lord's daughter, but her and Izuna looked so much alike with the same color of hair and eye shape that the elders easily got fed up with the whispers and basically said for them to be silent.

That, and Tajima was not about to have someone question the validity of his daughter's parentage and his wife's loyalty. Izuna was so obviously his, there was just something a little different about Hinata, is all. But she was still his as well. It was impossible for one child out of a set of twins to be his and the other to not be. He wasn't going to accept anything other than everyone's complete agreement that Hinata was his.

She was just very special.

Hinata didn't hear much of what was said, but Madara did and he became well known for fighting with other clansmen for it. Izuna would too. Hinata was mostly kept in the dark, preferring to care to their younger brother, Kana. She was very loving and even though he was only two years younger than her, he was her baby. She carried him around everywhere and practically took better care of him than her own mother.

Kana's pregnancy and birth ended up being the hardest on their mother. She wasn't able to have any more children after that. Her body became so dainty and weak - moreso than before - that it became harder for her to do many every day activities simply because she no longer had the strength to be able to do it. Hinata didn't seem to mind much, she loves being Kana's caretaker and big sister.

At ten years old, Hinata's baby, Kana, was killed in battle.

Hinata took the death of her baby brother hard. She was sitting with her mother, taking care of her, when one of her cousins came to tell them of what happened. Hinata's mom broke down and started crying. Another cousin came to her to comfort her while Hinata, numbly, got up and walked away. She uses her incredible vision to locate her two remaining brothers.

Madara, already knowing what happened, accepting Hinata into his arms.

She cried, hard. Her body shook and trembled and she held tightly to her eldest brother as if her life depended on it. Kana was hers. She took care of him. She raised him. She helped teach him how to fight and survive. She did everything she could for him. She even cared for him when he was sick or held him at night when he was scared. He was hers. She loved him so much and argued with her father when he first went to battle.

Hinata, submissive and gentle, screamed at her father for the first time in her entire life. She told him that this idiotic war was going to get everyone killed. That no single Senju life was worth one of their own. Victory was meaningless if it meant someone had to die for it. Not in a war like this. A war that stretched on decades that no one probably remembered how it started in the first place. They weren't fighting for principles or people. They were fighting for pride and a grudge.

Hinata couldn't accept her brothers having to go and die for such a terrible reason and she made her father very aware of where she stood.

But, as expected, as Lord of the clan, her father's word was law. Hinata was sent away to her mother and told never to speak of such things again. Madara and Izuna, in Hinata's honor, refused to go to battle for almost two weeks before they finally gave in and participated in a very particularly dangerous bout. Hinata appreciated her brothers siding with her, but she knew that she had lost the moment her baby brother was old and healthy enough for battle.

It was inevitable that he go. He was a boy. He was an heir. He was an Uchiha.

But Hinata's worst fears came to fruition the moment she heard that Kana died. It was like her world fell around her. She knew, in the back of her mind, that she should have been sympathetic to her parents, who just lost a child, but she couldn't help the chilling anger that followed the painful realization that Kana had become another casualty of war - and that's it.

There is no honor in death. Not Kana's. Not anyone else's. Not in this war. This war is nothing. Literally nothing.

She fit so neatly in Madara's arms. Her older brother capable of wrapping himself completely around her to try and protect her from the pain that is closing in on her. She loves Kana. She loves him so much. She wanted him to be there at her side. She loved her eldest brother, and her twin, both of which she shares bonds with that were so vastly different but perfect in their own way, but Kana was hers. She did anything and everything for him. She had prayed since the moment he was born, that he would stay with her.

He was pure, perfect, good. He was just a baby. And now he's gone. Killed for a war that he had no choice but to participate in.

Izuna and Madara were strong. They were always strong, for as long as Hinata knew them. They were always looking after her, protecting her, and this was her chance to be that person to someone. To be the confidant. To be the protector. To be the one that was trusted so explicitly with his thoughts and feelings and worries, and she lost him.

Hinata couldn't protect her baby brother. She failed him. Her powerful, all seeing eyes were incapable of seeing this coming. Incapable of seeing how to make it out of this. How to make this pain go away.

While cradled to Madara's chest, her hand reaches out toward her twin brother, whose face is twisted into a look of agony, feeling her pain as his own, and interlaces her fingers with his. Izuna steps closer, twisting their hands around so the back of hers is against his chest, his beating heart, as he stares into her eyes. They were twelve years old, crying for the death of their little brother. Izuna had tears sliding down his cheeks. He wasn't huffing and puffing, trying to catch his breath like Hinata was. But his lower lips was trembling and his pain was written across his face.

Madara, though, his eyes were squeezed tightly closed, eyebrows pulled together and frown on his lips, but that's it. He didn't tremble. He didn't cry. His posture was strong and sure and protective. His heart against her ear was slow and relaxed.

But she knew Madara. She knew her big brother. He was in pain. A lot of pain. But he was being calm and supportive for their sake. But he was deeply hurt, and deeply upset. And him holding onto Hinata, with Izuna so close, wasn't just to comfort them, but to comfort himself too. They were there with him, his siblings that feel the pain like he does.

But he needed to feel them alive and next to him. Some sort of salve for the pain in his heart and soul that are constricting in unbelievable agony. So they take comfort in each other. Using the presence of the siblings that they still have left in the world to heal the pain that threatens to overwhelm them.

Madara runs his fingers through Hinata's soft, clean hair, his blunt nails occasionally rubbing against her scalp.

Hinata squeezes her eyes shut, unable to see out of them anyway, through the tears. "He's gone," Hinata moans in pain, having to do something to fill the silence other than choked sobs and sniffles. "H-How can he be gone?"

"I don't know," Madara whispers, holding her closer.

"He was just here this morning. He was fi-fine."

"I don't know," Madara says again.

"How could father let this happen?" Hinata sobs, feeling the pain hit her freshly once more.

Dismayed, Madara whispers, "I don't know."

* * *

Hinata was fourteen years old when she first met Hashirama and Tobirama Senju. Tobirama was a few months older than her, as Hashirama was a few months older than Madara. Hinata had never stepped foot on a battle field before. Never. Her father, and brothers, forbade it of her. Not that she wanted to fight. She didn't believe in this war. She wanted desperately for it come to an end. She tended to the wounded and ran errands for the women of the village, using her incredible sight to be able to keep look out for dangers around their camp. But never did she go to the battlefield. She saw enough of men and the sparse amount of women powerful enough to go to war to know that nothing good ever came from those battles.

No victory, no matter the side or the prize, ever seemed worth it to her. No one could convince her otherwise.

But she did step upon a battlefield when she was fourteen. It wasn't an active bout going on, though. The dry season was particularly unforgiving and someone blundered, setting a large field ablaze between both campsites.

It spread fast, too fast, there was no way to move everyone in time. They had to put out the fire and save the field before it swallowed up the camps on both sides. Hinata was one of the volunteers that went to help put out the fire. She could see, through the smoke and ash, that the Senju were doing the same on their side. No one wanted the fire to destroy their homes. They had to work together in order to put it out, even if everyone stayed on separate sides of the fire.

Through the smoke, she saw the young clan leader on the Senju's side, Hashirama Senju, directing efforts while his brother was performing powerful water style techniques in order to quench the flames. Hashirama had been made the clan leader a year prior, after the untimely death of his father. What a joke. He was killed by an injury he sustained in battle. Not sickness. Not an accident. War killed him.

At this time, her own father was protecting a very important supply route, from the Senju, but since Hashirama became the clan leader, underhanded things like that came to an end. He even pulled all the kids off of the battlefield on their side.

Hinata admired him. She heard all about Hashirama Senju from her brothers.

Izuna didn't trust him, at all. He thought that Hashirama was all talk, that he was going to live up to the expectations of the Senju before him, and continue this bloody war until one side or the other is destroyed. The Senju, in Izuna's eyes, were monsters. They were the reason this entire war began and they were the ones that threatened the peace of the Uchiha clan. Plus, he blames them solely for Kana's death.

Hinata didn't. Well, she did a bit. But she mostly blamed the war for his death. If this war wasn't going on, Kana might still be alive now. But he wasn't.

Madara had mixed feelings about Hashirama. He hated him because he was a Senju and the Senju were their enemies, but he also appeared to hold some form of respect toward the slightly older man. Izuna hated whenever he spoke about Hashirama in anything other than a negative light, but Hinata was willing to hear her eldest brother out.

Madara tried to explain it, but didn't seem to really know how to. Hashirama was... a difficult person to understand, while at the same time, being the easiest in the world. His thoughts and actions were pretty clear cut, but the whys behind it all were difficult to grasp. Hashirama didn't want children involved in this war any longer, after the death of two of his three little brothers. Hashirama didn't want this war to continue, because he too felt like it was pointless and got them nowhere, but Hinata's father refused to be "swayed" by Senju trickery.

By Hinata's point of view, he appeared to be wanting a better world for them all. Madara wasn't sure if he would agree with her to that degree, but he didn't seem like he thought that everything that his father and brother were spewing about Hashirama, but he didn't want to go against what they were saying. It was obvious to Hinata that her brother felt very trapped in the middle between his belief and that of his brother and father.

Hinata isn't sure why Madara felt so different about this than everyone else, but she knew her brother was very good at reading people. If he thought that Hashirama was being truthful in the other man's word, than she believed it too. But Madara wasn't clan leader. Even if he wanted to stop it, he couldn't. Their father wasn't going to be manipulated by them, as he says. He would sooner kill them all than agree to their "false" peace.

But that day, the day of the fire, her father wasn't there to oversee. Madara was in charge, ordering people around, trying to save them and their camp. He ordered their clansmen to ignore the Senju on the other side. This wasn't about them, this was about saving their family. The Senju shared that mindset. This was about stopping the fire and saving those of their families that couldn't protect themselves.

Amidst the madness and movement, through the inferno, Hashirama stopped, as if he felt her eyes on him. At first, he looked around, confused, trying to find out who was staring at him, until he spots her through the fire. He pauses where he was walking to stare back at her, probably unable to really make out any of her features other than her dark hair through the smoke and ash, but his perceptiveness was astounding. But she could see him fairly well, even given the situation. The bucket of water she was passed is mindlessly dumped onto the flames closest to her before it's taken away to be filled up again.

His lips move, Hinata notices, but she has a hard time seeing through the billowing black smoke to see exactly what he's saying. She doesn't really know how to read lips, which it occurs to her now that it might be a good trait to pick up, so she really has to concentrate on the way his lips are moving in order to try and understand what he's saying. He keeps saying it over and over again, to make sure that she is going to be able to get whatever message that he's trying to say.

Hinata concentrates hard on his lips, trying to read it, hoping his enunciation was good enough that she'll be able to understand it. She moves her lips like his, over and over again, trying to figure out what he's saying. "Be... careful..." she whispers, lilac colored eyes widening in shock. He was worried about her standing so close to the flames and he wanted her to be careful not to get burned.

What kind of horrible, terrible _monster_ would care about the safety of those on the "enemy" side?

Maybe her father and brother were wrong in believing that he was so terrible. Maybe, just maybe, Madara was right in being conflicted over how he should feel about the Senju clanleader. Hinata can say with near certainty that her father wouldn't express concern for the safety of a Senju if he was here right now. She's not even sure her father would agree to helping put out the flames, he would probably be more interested in taking this moment to go after the Senju while they were distracted, probably claiming that Uchiha couldn't be hurt by the flames.

Which would be a total lie. Uchiha may not be as affected by _heat_ but _fire_ still _burns_ anyone.

Hinata nods slowly, not sure what else to do, but when she realizes that he probably wouldn't have been able to see such a small reaction, so she nods more assuredly. Hashirama's mouth closes, nodding back at her, relieved that she was able to get the message.

She douses another bit of the flames with a bucket of water before passing it back as Hashirama makes his way over to his little brother. The two of them stand before a line of equally placed buckets of water, before performing a series of hand signs and simultaneously performing a water style jutsu that pulls all of the water out of the bucket and dumps it over the fire, extinguishing it almost immediately.

What little flames that were left were put out quickly by the Uchiha clan. Once the flames were nothing more than black smoke filtering into the air and dissipating into nothing, everything calms down. The two clans lapse into complete silence as they look at one another. Even if now was a pretty good time to launch into a fight, now that the battlefield is soppy wet and the threat of another wild fire has diminished greatly, no one has the strength or desire to do so.

They are safe. Their homes are safe and they were able to work together to stop something positively dangerous from becoming an absolute travesty. The filed is dead and will be for a long time, but it stopped the battle taking place here and stopped it from continuing once the fire was put out. Hinata isn't the type of person that believes that everything happens for a reason, she knows perfectly well how stupid it was for all of them to engage in a battle using fire and lightning on a field that is practically made of combustible material.

They were begging for something to happen. Thankfully everyone appears to be alright for the most part and the battle is done for the day. But in some ways, maybe it was a sign from mother nature that their squabbling has gotten old and that it needs to come to an end.

"Aniki," Hinata says, carrying one of the buckets over to where her two brothers were standing directly across Tobirama and Hashirama Senju, who were staring back at them. "Aniki, lets go home. I think that's enough for today."

Madara doesn't respond right away. He continues to look at Hashirama and Tobirama for a moment, considering something. He stares at Hashirama, reading his posture, and his expression as it becomes easier to do when the smoke filtering from the dead grass dissipates into the air. Finally, Madara sighs, looking over at Izuna and nodding.

"Let's go home."

Mistrustfully, Izuna glares at the Senju across the way, like he didn't trust to turn his back on them for fear of them attacking him. Hinata didn't share in his sentiment. Especially after what Hashirama displayed to her today. She's not willing to believe that now. Maybe he could be lying to her, or his concern is some sort of trick, but she's not sure she believes that.

Either way, enough is enough for today. Her father won't be happy about the retreat, she's sure, but there is nothing he's going to be able to do about it from where he is.

"Madara..." Izuna says slowly, still glaring at the Senju.

"We are going home, Izuna," Madara snaps. "Enough is enough. Today has been hell, lets go home and wind down."

At the intense gaze Madara sends his way, Izuna backs down immediately to the clan heir. "Yes, brother."

Madara signals for the Uchiha clan to head out, including his siblings before sparing a glance back over at the two Senju brothers before turning away and heading home, grabbing one of the buckets accidently left behind. He didn't have it in him to keep fighting. Today was exhausting and they've done enough damage as it is. It's time they go home for now.

"Father is going to be mad," Izuna warns as they make their way home. The three of them walk slowly, side by side.

"Madara was right in ending this without fighting further," Hinata says, looking around Madara to Izuna on their older brother's other side.

Izuna rolls his eyes. "You are too naïve, sister. Fighting is the only way to defeat the Senju."

Hinata frowns at him. "Fighting isn't always the answer, brother. I don't believe the Senju want to continue to fight us. This entire battle has to come to an end. But it doesn't have to be about fighting. There is a peaceful resolution."

Izuna snorts so loud, Hinata's surprised he didn't hurt himself. "There you go again. You believe the world to be sunshine and rainbows, Hinata, but it isn't. It's harsh and cruel and unfair."

"I know that," Hinata insists. She may not be engrossed in the war quite like her brothers are, but she does know what it's like. She's not as ignorant as he would like to believe that she is. "I know you are hoping that you're protecting me, Izuna, b-but you aren't! I am perfectly aware of what's go-going on!"

Izuna glares, stopping. "I highly doubt that."

Hinata stops too, stepping up in front of her brother, looking up into his eyes. "I-I do!"

"Oh, and the st-st-stutter is back. Welcome! I was afraid we would go an entire month without you coming to visit!" Izuna taunts.

Hinata blushes, ashamed. "It only comes out wh-when I'm excited! It's gotten a lot better!" She curls her hands around on the cloth on her thighs, scrunching them up between her fingers.

"Izuna," Madara growls, "enough. Don't be a brat."

"Fine," Izuna concedes. "But the issue isn't how you feel, it's about what has to be done. Hinata, the Senju have to be destroyed. Before they can destroy us!"

"But what if they don't want to d-destroy us?" Hinata insists, her thin brow pulling together. "What if they wanted peace too?"

Izuna scoffs again and Hinata is really starting to hate that sound. Sometimes he can be so condescending. "As if!"

"How can you say that?" Hinata insists. "You don't know how they feel! How can you pretend like that? Have you even spoken to one of them about this?"

Izuna stares down at her with narrowed black eyes. "And what about you? Have you spoken to one of them?"

He caught her. Admittedly, she hadn't. Not a single word. Hashirama spoke to her, but that was across a pillar of fire. So they didn't talk at all, but she still hopes that this is the case. They want to end the war as much as she does. As much as Madara does. She wants to believe it, because she thinks that a part of Madara believes it.

"W-Why do you make it seem like wanting peace is so wrong, Izuna?" Hinata asks, desperately. How could he not want this war to end as badly as she did?

"I do," Izuna insists. Hinata opens her mouth, but he cuts her off before she can say anything, "But that is where things are fundamentally different between you and I, Hinata. You think that this can be stopped by _talking._ But I know that it can only be stopped by _fighting._ It's them or us."

Hinata is shocked by his words. He just stares at him with wide, lilac eyes. "Why does it have to be that way...?"

Izuna stares down at her, sympathetically. He reaches out and puts his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry, Hinata, but it just does."

"I don't think so," she says softly, looking sad.

"Come on," Madara says, nodding for them to follow. "Lets go home."

"Alright," Izuna says, pulling his hands back and moving to follow after his brother. Hinata takes up the rear, her head bowed down low. She still doesn't understand why it has to be this way, it feels like simply talking it out could help them find peace. It doesn't have to be destruction. She refuses to believe that.

They continue walking in silence, able to see their fellow clansmen up ahead, talking amongst themselves as they near their home once more.

"Father is going to be so mad that you," Izuna says again.

Madara groans in annoyance, glaring back at Izuna. "He can blow it out his ass. Now shut up."


	2. The village

**Author's Note: Hello, everyone! I am loving the buzz with this story, seeing as it's not what I usually do. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of this chapter and am not really sure how to redo it. So alas, here it is. Hopefully, with this I'll be able to move forward and like the chapters to come. Thank you all for your support thus far - it's chapter two, I know! - and I hope that you continue to enjoy! I don't have a pairing planned for this story either, so let me know if you guys have an idea of what you want. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimers: I own nothing!**

 **Warnings: OOCness, language, un-beta'd.**

 **Word Count: 5,118**

Izuna's sight is spot on. Tajima was enraged by the news when he returned. He and Madara got into a yelling match that ended with each of them storming away from the other in a huff and a lot of mean words. Most of the clan simply sat by and watched the match without saying a single thing out of fear that the ire of one or both would be turned on them. Even Hinata and Izuna stood by quietly until the clan leader and heir went their separate ways.

Hinata chased after Madara almost immediately after he split ways with their father.

"Aniki," Hinata calls as soon as she catches up with her big brother out in the forest, knowing that's typically where he goes to train and clear his mind. She fervently believes that he isn't in the wrong. They were protecting their home. They wouldn't have been able to save the camps without the help of the Senju clan. This war was pointless and unbearable, yet their father simply couldn't see it. She didn't understand. She knew that Madara was right in his choice to let the Senju help put out the fire that threatened their home too.

It was their father and Izuna that were in the wrong. This war is pointless. Any war is pointless, especially if no one can really remember what they are fighting for. Honor and pride aren't worth all the lives that were taken in this conflict. It never will be. She simply can't wrap her mind around why her father and twin have such a hard time seeing it her way.

But it's probably the same in their shoes. They don't understand why she can't just see it as they do. See the necessity. See the need for things to be the way that they are. She's not sure that she ever will, but she fears that might be the same for them. Maybe she needs to take a different approach to how she speaks to her twin and father. Maybe she's been going about trying to stop them and this war the wrong way.

What the right way is, she's not sure she knows. Or even suspects. She's going to really have to think about it.

"I'm not in a good mood, Hinata," Madara growls, practicing his steps in order to try and relieve some of the stress that speaking to their father usually causes to accumulate during the act.

"You aren't in the wrong," Hinata says, gently folding her hands in front of herself. "Our home is so much more important than this war..."

Madara punches and kicks the air a few more times before letting out a long sigh and continuing, without looking at her, "I know, and so does father, but he's too bullheaded to admit it."

Hinata nods in agreement but doesn't speak for a long time, opting to simply watch her brother go through his steps. Something he can do thoughtlessly from years of doing it and muscle memory. She knows he's upset and rightfully so. She just wished that their father saw this pointless war for exactly what it was. How Hinata and Madara saw it. Maybe then they could move passed their warmongering ways and onto something more productive. More beneficial. Something that will be able to uplift the Uchiha clan, not continue to soil it.

They believe that this war will bring them honor, they are so wrong in so many ways. She prays for all of their sakes that none of them live long enough to ever hear what people really think about the Uchiha and their warmongering ways. Are their ancestors watching over them proud of their war, whether they participated or not?

Hinata is not so sure anyone is prepared for what that answer might be.

"This war can't go on forever..." Hinata says softly.

Madara sighs, stopping after a hard punch in the air, and turns toward his sister, frowning. "I don't want to talk about this anymore, Hinata."

Hinata hesitates. She knows that Madara is reasonable and probably agrees with her in pretty much every regard, but she also knows how their father draws out Madara's bad side. Nothing really winds Madara up quite like their father does. As much as Hinata and Madara agree on things, she knows her eldest brother is in a very sour mood after pretty much every encounter with their father.

"Brother..." Hinata says softly, staring at Madara's back, "... this war can't go on forever."

Madara's shoulder slump as he breathing begins to equal out. He turns to Hinata and looks tired, like speaking to their father drew all of the strength out of him, not the angry imaginary fist fight he was just in.

"I know," Madara finally says, rubbing his face. "But what do you want me to do, Hinata? I have no power in this. He is the clan leader, his word is law. All we can do is obey until..." he trails off, probably not knowing the answer to that himself. When was enough _enough_? Hinata's not sure anyone was prepared for what that answer might be.

Hinata has spent the last few years, since Madara has matured into a strong young man strong enough to finally stand up against his father, worrying about what might be the inevitable outcome to all of this. It is obvious to just about everyone that Madara and Tajima see the world very differently but since Madara has always been smaller and weaker than his father, he's had no choice but to simply submit to his father's will and live under his thumb, but the day is fast approaching where Tajima will simply push Madara too far and he's going to lash out.

Madara isn't as little as Tajima seems to think he is. His body has grown bigger, his muscles more defined and stronger, his legs longer, his jutsu arsenal is only slightly larger than his massive chakra supply and his temper is starting to become reminiscent of Tajima's. If this was to come to blows - and Hinata is praying that it won't ever have to come to that - Madara is going to put up a much greater fight than Hinata fears Tajima will be prepared for.

For now, though, the tension simmers like a pot of water threatening to boil over. Hopefully, someone will be able to remove the pot before then, but Hinata is scared that might not be the case. She just has to pray that she isn't somehow aggravating the situation by fueling the strength behind Madara's belief. This war has to come to an end.

For all their sakes.

They lapse into silence. Hinata stares at the Uchiha crest brandished on her brother's back, glaring at her. As if somehow angry that she would dare think to go against the wishes of the clan - er, her father. But if she asked him, his wishes was that of the clan. As he was the will of them. Hinata wasn't so sure of the validity of that. People were getting so tired of the fighting. So tired of the death and destruction. So tired of bringing children into the world simply for them to die.

They may not lack in hatred toward the Senju, but they were certainly done with this conflict. Maybe even enough to forgive and forget. Could Hinata be wrong in thinking this? Sure, she might be and her family may hold onto this rage for the rest of their lives, but why would they want to? Why would anyone think that hating someone and being angry is better for them? It's exhausting to Hinata, thinking about all that anger and hate. How can anyone stew in it? How can Izuna see it as the only option?

Why is hating the Senju the only choice that they have? Why does it have to be that way? Izuna's answer didn't satisfy her. She knew the world wasn't sunshines and rainbows, but she knew that in some moments, it could be. Those moments mostly occurred when Hinata was caring for Kana. He was a true joy and love in her life.

"Aniki...?" Hinata whispers softly, walking closer to him now that he was no longer fighting an invisible opponent that may or may not hold a resemblance to their father.

"Yes?" Madara turns to look at her, hands falling to his sides as if exhausted.

"Are you tired of the anger?" She steps up close to him, looking up into his black eyes with her lilac colored ones.

Madara hesitates, not sure how to respond to that. He looks around at the space above her head for a few minutes before lowering his eyes back to her own. He doesn't have to say for her to not tell this to Izuna, she knew how it worked. Madara and Hinata had a connection, different from the one she had with her twin. Anything that was said between the two of them, Hinata and Madara, would be kept between them, especially if it went against what Izuna believed. "I am, but I'm mostly tired of the fighting. Battle is our life but it's this constant fight over something that doesn't matter to me. People I love are getting hurt and dying for something I don't care for. Something I don't believe in."

"Can't this come to an end?" Hinata asks. "Can't the fighting stop?"

Madara lets out a deep, long-winded sigh, shaking his head. "I don't know, Hinata. I really don't."

Hinata bows, not knowing how to push this conversation forward, so they drop it. Hinata turns and walks away to get some water for him, while he goes back to training.

* * *

"Hinata-sama?"

Hinata pauses in carrying the basket of clothes for her cousin, Ai, to catch up so that they can walk side by side down to the lake. Ai's long dark blue hair is pulled back into an intricate series of braids across her head and down her back. She was one of the real beauties in the clan at almost seventeen years old with a beauty mark below her left eye that is just so appealing to people. She wasn't odd like Hinata was.

Hinata had large, lilac colored eyes and dark blue hair that was twisted into a bun on the top of her head with her bangs across her forehead and two pieces of hair long enough to just touch her collarbone frame her face. She was far shorter than any of the other woman in the clan and was dwarfed by all men. She was just so tough on the eyes in comparison to all of the other girls, it kills her self-esteem.

All the other girls in Hinata's clan are so beautiful and unique, Hinata feels so inadequate. She tries to not think about it. She knows that she isn't going be able to match up with the other girls in her clan. She has a really bad impression of herself when it comes to her family and the natural beauty that comes from them. She doesn't spend a lot of fo time with any of the other girls in her clan, they make fun of her stutter when it comes out, so she tries to stick with just her brothers and her best friend, Ai.

Ai was only two years older than her, and they've been together Hinata's entire life. She became best friends with Ai when everyone was still so confused on how to deal with her - was she blind? Was she not? Was she Tajima's? Was she not? - and Ai looked like an alien. Ai used to have eyes too big for her face and a head too big for her body. Puberty has been very kind to her.

She's tall, beautiful and her personality is wonderful.

Hinata feels like a short, ugly gremlin next to her. But she loves her, and wouldn't trade her best friend for the world.

"Hello, Ai," Hinata greets.

"I heard that there was a bit of a dispute between Lord Tajima and Lord Madara again," she says slowly, her thin eyebrows pulling together. She looks around for a moment to make sure that no one else was listening to their conversation. No one was, all of the other women that were helping with laundry were farther ahead of them, talking amongst themselves. Ai leans in close and whispers, "Is everything okay?"

Hinata's first reaction is to just nod and assuage any sort of fears she might have, but she didn't want to lie. While she's sure she can't say the truth just yet, seeing as if people start to think there is actual discord within the main branch, it might start to worry about their future. If it doesn't seem like the main branch is capable of finding common ground, they might be scared that the clan would fall apart.

She can't imagine it would be that drastic, but she knows how this sort of thing works.

"Yes," Hinata says, deciding that it wasn't smart to dump all their dirty laundry all over the place, even if it was to her best friend. Maybe they'll talk when it's more private with less chance for someone to overhear. Plus, she's not really sure how to explain it without her brother and father come out as monsters. Hinata doesn't agree with them, but she doesn't think that they are warmongering monsters.

Ai wouldn't believe that.. but...

Hinata didn't want to think about it. She and Madara weren't any closer to finding some sort of answer to all the burning questions that they had, so she's just going to have to stew in it a bit longer until she figures it out.

Ai looks like she knows that Hinata is holding back, but doesn't push it.

"It's a good thing that the fire was put out," she says, turning toward the field that was set ablaze three days prior that both clans worked together to put out. Not even smoke remains in the sky, but the field is charred black. Most of it, at least. They are lucky that was all that happened. It could have been so much worse if they weren't careful.

"Yes..." Hinata says slowly, finally making it down the river and starts cleaning up the clothes with Ai at her side. "I just hope that everyone is a lot more careful moving forward. That could have been so... bad."

"Yeah," Ai murmurs softly, using her shoulder to push some hair that slipped out of her braid out of her face a bit, it just falls back into place when she turns to look over at Hinata. "With the way the wind was blowing, the camp surely would have been destroyed."

Hinata perks up, not once even thinking about the wind. "What? What do you mean?"

Ai stares at her with narrow, pretty black eyes. "The wind was carrying the fire toward our camp. What? What's wrong? The fire was put out, wasn't it?"

"Yes..." Hinata mumbles to her self-looking down at the drenched kimono between her fingers. Was the wind blowing toward the Uchiha camp? If she's remembering clearly, there was a lot of embers flying around her face, but she never really thought about the way the wind was blowing. If it was pushing the fire toward the Uchiha... then that means it was pushing it away from the Senju camp.

Yet, it was the Senju that put out the fire.

* * *

Hinata, thinking back, saw Tobirama Senju standing alongside his brother on the opposite side of the fire, and while that was the first time Hinata ever saw either brother, the first time she met Tobirama Senju was almost two months following the fire, the fight between Madara and their father, and the realization that the Senju may have selflessly helped put out the fire that Hinata previously thought was a danger to both clans.

She was in the nearest town, something she usually never did - especially alone - but the winter was brutal and they needed supplies. Even the Land of Fire, which was known well for its rather temperate temperatures, experiences extreme highs and lows every few years, and this was one of those years. Hinata and Izuna had both turned fifteen years and celebrated it in a snowstorm that dropped three feet of snow on the land and gifted more than a handful of people with frostbite on toes and fingers.

Oh, and Hinata was horribly ill. Izuna was fine, but true to the woes of twins, once Hinata was feeling better, Izuna collapsed with a fever.

Madara, who has hardly had anything more than the sniffles in his life, cared for Hinata when she was sick, with Izuna, and then cared for Izuna when he was sick, with Hinata. Against Madara's wishes, who stayed home to care for Izuna, and the clan, as their father also fell ill, Hinata went to the nearest established village to get supplies.

It was there that she officially met Tobirama Senju.

See, feeling like a fool now when she thinks back, it should have been obvious who he was. He wasn't broadcasting who he was necessarily, but his clansmen made an awful easy identifier for him that she should have immediately realized who he was, but didn't. She was just happy to meet someone who was a bit misplaced, just like her.

"Oh!" A deer busts into the roadside caravan, just outside the nearest village, scaring the twenty or so people that were making their way into the village. It ran about wildly, disoriented by the flurrying snow. It was young, smaller than some of the deer that she's seen in a long time, probably one of the first times away from its mother.

Its dark eyes are wide and wild, scared and confused. Everyone backs away, giving it a wide berth as it swings its body around. The man next to Hinata bumps into her, sending her stepping back into the person behind her. She feels her foot slip a bit on the ice, but the person behind her grabs onto her elbow to hold her up. The deer lets out a loud while before racing off into the forest on the other side and disappearing into the thicket.

Everyone waits for about three breaths before continuing to move, mumbling about the weirdness that just occurred.

"Thank you..." Hinata mumbles, turning toward the person who helped her with her footing, and bows low, staring at his feet. "Thank you for your help."

"Sorry?"

Blushing deeply, she straightens up, finally pulling from his grip to look up at him through her long lashes, embarrassed that she spoke so softly he couldn't hear her even though they were so close. "I'm sorry.. thank you for helping me."

He tilts his head. "You're fine. Not every day the local wildlife crosses the beaten path."

Hinata presses the tips of her fingers together, pushing them a bit with lowered eyes. She's been to this village more than a handful of times, but this is the first time she's really stopped to speak to anyone. She's spoken to the people on the street and the venders a bit, but not really anyone else, so this is really a first for her.

That, and she's not really accustomed speaking to others - when one is as shy as she, an heiress to a powerful, wartorn, clan and with a father like her own - she has learned to really keep her distance from strangers for an assortment of different reasons. She doesn't notice it much outside of her family, even though she's not really talkative with them. She's at least relatively comfortable around her family because they are family, but she's come to learn that she's a pretty private person.

Just like her brothers.

But with them, she could talk about anything, and she hopes that they feel the same. Out of all of the people in her clan, she is definitely the closest to her brothers, which is no surprise.

"Yes..." Hinata murmurs, realizing that she needed to fill the space for a moment trying to build up the courage to actually look up into the eyes of the man that helped her rather than stare at his feet. He was in a simple, heavy blue kimono and pants with a large white haori to compliment the prettiest shade of white that was his hair.

Hinata can honestly say she's never seen someone with hair that white and eyes that red. Sure, her family is known for their red eyes, but there was something different about the shades that was beautiful. Hinata has never seen someone like him before. She doesn't realize that she's staring until he tilts his head from one side to the other, staring down into her own eyes.

She should have been used to it, seeing as it tends to be people's first reaction, every time that they saw her head on, but it took Hinata a moment to realize that he was staring into her eyes thinking the same exact thing that everyone else in the world thinks when they see her.

"I can see you fine," Hinata says, perhaps too loud, before lowering her voice and sideways glancing at the people who watch them curiously as they pass. They probably aren't used to seeing someone like the man in front of her with such white hair and red eyes and Hinata, who was yelling about how she wasn't blind when her eyes looked like the did.

"I can see you fine," Hinata says again, quieter. "My eyes just look like that."

The man's raised eyebrow lowers into a neutral, curious look. "I see. Thank you for clearing that up." He says that, but Hinata has the impression that he's not sure he believes her. Not that she would be able to lie about that, easily. But just the way that he's swaying a bit from one side to the other, watching her eye movement, intrigued, is enough to prove that he doesn't fully believe her even though it's impossible to lie about that.

"I've never seen hair that white before in a man so young," Hinata says, honestly. His skin was so smooth and youthful, it was deceitful the way his hair made him seem like he should be a little old man. He couldn't be that much older than Hinata. She's not very good at guessing that sort of thing, but he had to be very close to her in age. He definitely wasn't old enough to start wrinkling anywhere, if his smooth features were anything to go by. There were red markings under his eyes and along his cheeks that gave him a slightly older, more exotic look, but Hinata could see his youth plain as day.

But her words proved her point. She could see him. She's not sure if the surprised look that flickered across his face was because she could actually see when it didn't appear like she should be able to, or if people don't usually comment on his appearance much. The latter of which is very hard to believe for Hinata, that seems to be the only thing people make note of about her. Her strange appearance.

"I'm sorry," Hinata says quickly, worried that she had somehow angered him. "I have just... never seen someone who looks as pretty as you." The man blinks a few times, red eyes widening a bit as he stares at Hinata, who could die right now if her body allowed it. She knew pretty wasn't exactly the word that should be used for a boy, but she couldn't think of anything else that really fit.

He studies her face, hot as the sun and red as can be, with an unreadable look his face with the smallest hint of surprise and... bashfulness? Now Hinata's sure people rarely say such things to him. It's rare to find someone as thoughtless as she. If Izuna was here, he would be dying of laughter at her expense for her voice running away with her.

She covers her face with her hands, wishing she could sink into the snow-covered path and never come out again. "I'm sorry. I-I didn't me-me-mean t-to - mean to say that l-like that." Oh no, her stutter is coming back. Can she go home now?

There is a gentle sound, amongst the people shuffling past them. It draws Hinata's gaze through her fingers to see the man in front of her with the barest, faintest smile she's ever seen on another human being. A part of her wonders if maybe she's just imagining it. It's gone quick, though, giving her the impression, if he does smile, it's not often.

"Thank you," he finally says, a touch of something in his voice before all emotion leaves it. "You need to be more careful. It's not safe for a young woman to be wandering about without someone you trust close by."

Hinata flusters a bit, hating how he sounded like Madara. She has to calm down, clear her mind and will herself to relax. It's what her mother always taught her. She had to try and relax so that her voice, when it left her lips, was crisp and clear. "How do you know my friends are not nearby?"

The man stares down at her. His half-lidded eyes sit comfortably under a perched eyebrow. "Are they?"

Hinata's jaws slam shut, knowing he caught her. "Y-Yes?" Okay, so she's not sure that she's any sort of good liar, and she knows better than to simply spill her life and her secrets to strangers - especially that she was alone - but Hinata had an eye for people. Pun aside, she would like to think that she's able to read people by looking at them. She doesn't feel like she's in any danger from him, but she is still going to be careful. She's not as helpless as she appears to be.

They live in a day and age where hardly any woman knows how to fight and defend themselves, as it is a man's world, and while her father would rather warn her about the dangers of the world, her brothers made sure she would be able to protect herself. Madara used to always say that he and Izuna would be her first line of defense. No matter what or when she needed them, they would be there for her, but if somehow they were not able to be there to protect her, they wanted her to be safe.

Madara made sure to train with her day in and out, in secret, as their father would not approve, to protect herself. Brutal, hours on hours. Izuna was right by her side to fool everyone into believing the two of them were training and that Hinata was simply watching.

Her father was very traditional like that. If they weren't simply running out of young men to throw at the Senju, a woman wouldn't have been trained to fight in battle at all, except for defense of the camp. Madara didn't see it that way. Everyone who was able-bodied and willing should get to learn how to defend themselves. No one knows what might happen when someone might have to jump in and save the lives of the family.

Plus, Madara drilled it into her through their hours of rigorous training together that no man was ever allowed to lay their hand on her without her express permission.

"Women's rights may be limited to men's will, but not you," Madara had said, petting down her sweat-drenched hair from one of their particularly difficult training sessions. "No, you, dear sister, will hold the world in the palm of your hand. No man will own you. Ever."

"Be careful," the white-haired man warns. "Don't let anyone else know that you are alone. Go about your business and then go home. It's safer that way."

Hinata couldn't agree more. If something was to happen to her, a scratch on her hand from anything short of an accident, and Hinata knows that the entirety of the Uchiha family would reign down on the one responsible. So, she's careful. She has to be.

They finally make it inside the village before Hinata and her traveling companion finally turn to one another again. She bows respectfully as he tips his head.

"Thank once more for your h-help," Hinata says.

"Take care of yourself," he mumbles, meaningfully, before turning toward the other side of the village and heading in that direction. For as tall as he is and how brightly colored his hair is, he was able to vanish easily into the crowd flowing in that direction. He disappears from Hinata's sight easily enough. Although, if she wanted to, with her eyes, she probably would have been able to find him again. But she's okay with letting him go.

They had a nice, simple interaction and now that it's over they can go their separate ways. Hinata's just happy to see that there are other people in the world that are strange, like her. In appearance, at least. He didn't act all that strange like she did, but his appearance was a little bit odd. But unlike her, it seemed to fit him.

But alas, she's spent too much time not doing what she came for. She needs to get the supplies for her family and head on home. She's been gone long enough.

 **For the Reviewers:**

 **1\. Hina Quack: Thank you very much. And I don't mind you asking, I'm not sure yet. It honestly doesn't matter to me, so if you have a preference, let me know.**

 **2\. Tobiramamara: Aw, thanks! Does that mean that you aren't originally a fan of Hinata?**

 **3\. Madam3Mayh3m: Is there others out there like mine? I didn't know that! I know about Sakura, I have a few myself. xD It will be interesting to see how the issues between Tobirama and Izuna play out.**

 **4\. Nyght Elf: Thank you very much!**

 **5\. Thesunkunoichi: Thank you very much! I will try and update and frequently as I can, I promise!**

 **6\. Guest 1: xD**

 **7\. silviaw: :D**

 **8\. kadienewberg: And she starts off with a female best friend. I'm starting to like Ai, and hope that everyone else feels the same at some point! Thanks!**

 **9\. Chimebelle: Well, we can hope so, at least. XD No, the Uchiha do not know the Hyuuga clan in this story because they will not exist. Or, at least, for now, the idea of the Hyuuga won't exist. I haven't fully made up my mind yet on whether or not I want them to not exist or ever. Thank you!**

 **10\. ILoveSxS: Thank you!**

 **11\. Flowerbelle: Thank you! I'm not sure yet, but I'm open to opinions!**

 **12\. Hawaii unnie: Thank you! We will have to see, I think. XD**

 **13\. Guest 2: Thank you very much!**

 **14\. speedy-skye: Thank you! I'm gonna try, I think. :D**

 **15\. Guest 3: Aww, that's too bad. I'm sorry a single Hinata story made me no longer a good author. I'm sorry about that!**


	3. Loss

**Author's note: I'm sorry about the long wait! I really enjoy hearing everything yall have to say! It really helps spur me on! Also, pay close attention because there is quite a few time jumps in this chapter before it all starts to slow down a bit in the next one. There won't be much interaction in this chapter but the pairing is still up in the air. We've only seen Hinata and Tobirama together so far but to come will be her with Hashirama, so let me know what you think as we proceed! It is so late and I am exhausted, so I'm going to bed. Goodnight and enjoy! Let me know what you think!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

 **Warnings: Death, language, OOCness.**

 **Word Count: 5,174**

Izuna always said it was silly of her to waste her time and money on others when it doesn't benefit herself. Madara agreed, she knows that he did, but he was much more tactful about it rather than to simply tell her she was wasting her time, he expressed concern that she was exposing herself to a lot of unknown people who may see her kind act as more than simply that.

Hinata ignored both of them - mostly. It was a hobby of Hinata's that she enjoyed and didn't think that it would cause any sort of harm to anyone. Plus, the look on people's faces was truly worth it in the end.

Hinata knits. A lot. It's one of her favorite things to do, especially in the winter time. She knits all sorts of things; scarves, gloves, hats and even a blanket or two. So, after the entirety of the clan had all sorts of her creations to keep them relatively safe during the winter times, Hinata would bring them to nearby villages to sell cheap, or to simply give away to those who are exposed to the elements and unable to find shelter otherwise.

She fills a pack with all sorts of different knitted items and brings them to the village and once they are all gone, she uses whatever money she made, plus whatever she brought with her in case she ended up giving it all away, to buy whatever they need back at the camp before leaving once more to return home. Ai usually comes with her, but this time she went alone and ended up giving away almost everything, only selling two scarves and a pair of gloves - which was fine with her.

She shopped for what her household needed before heading back home, feeling satisfied with the day.

As usual, when she got home, she went to visit her parents first. Her mother, who was always in such poor health, was caring for their father when she knocked on the door and peeked inside.

"Hi, dear," Sukiko, Hinata's mother, greets, holding out a spoon filled with warm broth out for her husband, Hinata's father, to take. She smiles delicately once Hinata closes the door and walks over to them.

"Mother, father," she greets sitting down next to her mother before looking up into the dark eyes of her father. "How do you feel, father?"

He grunts, face pale aside from inflamed cheeks. "You left the compound, didn't you?" He asks instead, ignoring her question.

"Just to the nearby village to get a few things," Hinata admits, before digging around in her satchel to pull out some powder. "I'm glad I did. I found some medicine for you and Izuna, Father."

He looks like he wants to be mad and yell at her for leaving the camp without his permission, but appears too tired to be able to muster the strength to do so. Plus, he might be a bit grateful for her going out of her way to look for some medicine. "You know you aren't supposed to leave without Madara going with you, Hinata," her father chastizes quietly.

"He was looking after Izuna," Hinata defends herself.

"It is dangerous out there for a girl, Hinata," Tajima growls, glaring down at her, heat from his mild fever fueling his anger and protectiveness. "You are the princess of the Uchiha clan and a frail child. Men are monsters and beasts who feed on girls like yourself."

Sure, she was fifteen, but she wasn't necessarily a child. She was almost an adult. One more year and she would be ready to be married off. And while her father may not be aware that Hinata is trained well enough by her older brothers, she wouldn't say that, even if she wasn't, that she was a frail child. She was never sickly, like Izuna. She actually got sick a lot less than her twin. She may, more times than not, get it first, but it's never as bad as with him and never as long.

But not in the eyes of her father. No, in the eyes of her father, Hinata was as delicate as a bubble on the water's surface, easily disrupted and could vanish at the slightest change in anything. Air pressure, water temp. Anything. And she would be gone. Never to return again. She knows that her father doesn't mean it in some sort of negative, or mean way. He just... doesn't understand.

Hinata isn't delicate. Hinata isn't weak. She's very aware that she's the princess of the Uchiha clan, and she fears no man.

Hinata bows her head, though, knowing that her father wouldn't understand any of that. And having heard this same thing hundreds of times, she knows there is only one thing to say when he becomes like that. "Yes, Father."

"Men have only one thing on their minds when it comes to pretty girls like you."

"Yes, Father."

"Plus, you are an heiress to a powerful bloodline and my only daughter."

Hinata closes her eyes, wishing that he would stop saying that. She knew all of that. Or she at least heard it a thousand times now. She knows that she is his daughter and that she is an Uchiha - even without the Sharingan. Unlike those in her clan, Hinata never doubted that she was her father's daughter. She didn't feel like an Uchiha most of the time, but she knew her brothers and her parents. They were hers and she was theirs.

Her father will never see her as a woman, Hinata thinks. He will always see her as his small, baby girl. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing, seeing as much as she fights with her father, she was a daddy's girl. She loved the times they spent together. Sure, she loved her mother, always would, but there was just something special about the time she spent with her father.

Tajima starts coughing, turning away to cough into his elbow. It's a wet sound that shakes his entire body with each cough. Sukiko rubs at her husband's back, hoping to somewhat alleviate his pain.

Hinata bows her head and pushes to her feet, leaning down and kissing the top of her father's head before backing up to the door into her parent's room. "I'll let you rest, father."

Tajima holds up his hand, making her pause until his coughing stops. Once he's regained his breath, he looks over at her pale-faced and exhausted. Hinata just hates seeing him that way. She hopes that he'll feel better soon. She waits for him to collect himself patiently, until he looks at her, clearing his throat.

"Don't leave without Madara or Izuna again, Hinata," he croaks, looking at her with dark eyes that are both feverish and angry. "I mean it. You are my only daughter."

Not wanting to fight her father, knowing that he wouldn't accept her speaking out against him, she simply bows her head low and backs out of the room, murmuring a low, "Yes, father."

Hinata leaves, making sure not to stay for much longer lest he has more to say on the matter. He's made his point very clear to her. Not that she didn't already know what he was going to say before he said it - and she did - but she knew that she would have to sit through it like a good little girl and listen to him say it even though she knew what he was going to say and heard it about a dozen times already.

Hinata goes to Izuna's room, knocking lightly on his door and waits until Madara calls for her to come in. She slips in and closes the door behind her, walking over to her twin brother, who was sleeping somewhat peacefully while still struggling with his fever. Madara was sitting on the other side of the room than Hinata while looking at her through dark lashes. He's frowning. Hinata doubts that he heard her talking with their father in their parent's room, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know where she was or what she was up to.

Madara has always been like that. He's always been aware of what's going on with her. She'll run off to tell him something, and he'll have already known about it or had a feeling about whatever it is that she wanted to say.

"Brother..." Hinata says slowly, staring into Madara's dark eyes as she slowly closes the door behind herself.

"Izuna is sick," Madara says, voice calm but flat. He's not necessarily angry, but he isn't happy, that's for sure. "I can't be looking after both of you at the same time, especially since you are in two separate places. I can't be looking over Izuna's health, while you're leaving the camp to go to the nearby village to do... whatever it is you do. Give away your knitted items."

"I got Izuna medicine," Hinata says, walking over to her sleeping brother. She sits down on his other side, reaching out to pet down Izuna's hair. His skin is pale and his breathing is labored. Hinata feels so bad for her brother and hopes that he starts to feel better soon. She knows what her eldest brother and father are saying. It's dangerous out there, but still, she couldn't understand why everyone was so against her going and helping her brother and father. She knows it's dangerous, but it's her life and she chooses not to ignore her family when they need him.

"Thank you but I could have gotten it," Madara says, staring at the side of Hinata's face.

"I know," Hinata says softly, drawing her soft, lilac colored eyes up to her brother's pitch black ones. "But I wanted to help out..."

"I know you did," Madara says, a crease forming between his eyes, "but don't do anything unnecessary. You're my only little sister."

Hinata looks away, trying to contain the sigh that wanted to slip out of her. She knows that her brother wouldn't appreciate getting any sort of lip from her. She's seen Madara smack Izuna around for giving him attitude. She wasn't going to hop on that bandwagon. Plus, she does understand. She knows that they both worry about her. She knows this. She will just have to be more careful.

"Yes, brother."

* * *

Hinata leans her shoulder into Izuna's side. Her entire body feels absolutely drained of all energy. Her arms are looped through one of his as she rests her cheek on his shoulder. She wraps her right hand into his left, rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb, feeling the muscles twisting in her grip. Hinata looks up to the side of her brother's face, seeing this hard set look as his expression.

She looks away from her twin to her oldest brother, feeling fresh pain twist in her gut as Madara lowers flowers onto their shared mother's grave, his face completely stoic. She was with Izuna when he cried. He may be expressionless now, trying to contain his pain, but Madara hasn't cried yet. Not that she's seen, at least. But Madara doesn't usually leave her to wander alone. He usually feels pretty safe with her. Hinata would never judge him, she would never make him feel weak or worry him intentionally.

Which is what leads Hinata to believe that Madara hasn't allowed himself to feel his pain. She knows that he's a private person. He might have been pretty open with her, but it wasn't just them. The rest of the family was still there, paying respect to her recently deceased mother. Her mother has always been very frail in appearance and health. Hinata and her brothers knew that this was something that was always inevitable, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt. After everyone managed to get passed the winter well into the summer of the following year, months later, she fell ill that caused her to deteriorate rapidly. Hinata feels her lips start to tremble a bit, but she steels herself.

She has to follow her brothers' example. She will cry. She will continue to mourn their mother for a long time. But now, for now, she will swallow her pain and grief while around the remainder of her family. She will in the privacy of her home or somewhere with her brothers. Not here. Not around the branch family. She loves them, they are family, but she is the only daughter of the clan leader, she has to be strong for them. For all of them. She's the only female of the main family now. She is the clan's Princess.

She has to be strong too. She has to be.

"Madara..." Hinata says softly.

Her eldest brother steps back until he's next to her, but his eyes are still on their mother's tiny headstone, left unmarked because no one can ever know who was buried here, lest they try to defile her body for the secrets they hold. In time, people who know of the location of their mother's body will vanish. The small headstone will be weathered by time and nature and all those that stand here now, knowing full well of the life of the person beneath the dirt, will join her and be lost as well.

"Rest in peace, mother," Madara says softly, to himself. But he's close enough for Hinata and Izuna to hear him. The lilac eyed girl can feel Izuna tense up in her arms. She runs her free hand up and down her twin's arm trying to soothe the pain she feels radiating from him. She feels his pain in her chest much like her own. She hopes that somehow he can absorb some of her love for him and take it as comfort.

Hinata looks at the man standing amongst the elders of the clan. Her father was standing still as a statue, staring down at the grave of the woman that he loved more than anyone else in the world. His face was twisted in absolute rage and pain. His hands at his side tremble with unbridled emotions. His eyes are on the dirt the covered his wife's body, but his mind is elsewhere. He's off in his memories. Maybe he was seeing good times. Times in his youth with her mother, or when having children with her. Or simply thinking about his love for her, Hinata's not sure.

All she knows is that she had to be strong. Strong for herself. Strong for her deceased mother. Strong for the men in her life. They need her to be.

* * *

It was a few days following that Hinata went to town again, this time with a different objective in mind. Ai went with her as back-up, although no one could say much in that regard as she was left in charge of the clan in the absence of the men in her immediate family. They were quick to head out almost two days after they buried her mother just after the sun rose. Madara still hadn't cried as far as she knew, but he kissed her lovingly on the forehead before heading out while Izuna pulled her into a tight hug.

Tajima left her with a cryptic, "You are in charge of the family when Madara and Izuna aren't around, Hinata. You are the sensible of the three of you. Keep those brothers of yours in line. Long after I'm gone, you will have to look after those stupid boys."

Hinata didn't like how he said that, and must have had a look on her face to betray her worry, because he hugged her tight and kissed her hair a few times. He whispered that he loved her, and he always would love her, before pulling away and heading out with her brothers and the others chosen to return to the lines with them. The fear was so strong, for some unexplainable reason, that she could only choke out, "I love you" just loud enough for the three to hear her before they were gone and out of her immediate sight.

Hinata got the news today. Her father was gone. Killed in battle. He died with honor, the clansmen reporting to her had said. He died a true man of the clan. Hinata didn't cry then, didn't shed a single tear. It was somehow tragically poetic in a way. Hinata knew that her father loved her mother more than anyone else in the entire world. When she withered and died, somehow, Hinata knew that her father wouldn't have much longer in this world. And he must have known it as well. The last thing they spoke was supposed to be a farewell, but it felt like goodbye.

"Is this really a good idea?" Ai asks softly, following closely behind Hinata as they get in line for the flow of traffic entering the village once more.

Hollow-eyed and sad, Hinata shrugs her shoulders. "We will need to get protection and prayer beads that we need to engrave."

"I know," Ai says. "We have to engrave them with the gods and goddesses names to protect them in the after-life, but my lady, there is still time... we don't have to go now. Don't we still have some beads?"

Hinata shakes her head slowly, staring blankly at the flow of people in front of her. "We used the remainder of them on my mother's passing ritual."

Ai's jaw snaps shut. She kneads her hands in front of her for a moment, giving Hinata a look from the corner of her eye, feeling cowed. "I am so sorry, Princess." Having lost both parents in the course of a few days was a lot to deal with. Ai has thankfully never had to deal with loss on that level. Both of her parents are still alive and she lives with one little sister and a newly born baby brother. Sure, clansmen have been lost, friends even, but not her immediate family. Not like Hinata has.

"I want to get everything in line for Nii-sama so that he doesn't have to worry about anything," Hinata says, her voice even.

Ai looks forward, seeing them nearing the gates before looking back over at the Princess of the Uchiha. "My lady, allow me to go and get the beads. Please stay just inside the gate. You don't have to do this. Please, just allow me to get them in honor of our clan leader."

Hinata is about to protest. This was her father, she should try and find beads that perfectly speak to her as the beads that they lay him to rest with, but no noise escapes her lips. There is a constricting pain in her chest. She can't speak, her throat squeezing shut as pain radiates through her. She can't speak, and while tears stab at the backs of her eyes, she doesn't cry. All she can do is nod slowly in defeat and bow her head low.

Ai nods her head slowly, looking over at her friend with pity in her dark eyes. But she doesn't say anything more. She's been best friends with Hinata for so long, she may not have been Tajima's daughter, but she knew him very well and arguably spent more time with Hinata, her parents and her brothers than Ai did with her own family.

She will find something perfect for her late clan leader. Hinata will not regret delegating this important duty to Ai.

Once they are inside, Ai reaffirms that Hinata must stay put out of the way and she would be back swiftly. Hinata could only mutely lean against the inside of the wall, looking down at the dirt covered ground. She wraps her arms around herself and closes her eyes, forcing herself to calm down. She just keeps playing the last time she saw her father over and over and over again in her mind. It felt like goodbye every single time she sees it behind her eyelids, yet she didn't even really think of it like that at the time.

She had a bad feeling that day, but she never thought that her father would just up and die and a few days later. It didn't feel real. It felt like this was a horrible dream that she should one day awaken from, but somewhere deep in her heart, she knew that wasn't the case. People don't die and then come back to life. That's not how this works.

Hinata feels someone stop right in front of her. She opens her eyes to see the white-haired man she met the last time she was here, standing before her. His head is tilted to the side curiously.

"It's not safe to be here alone," he says.

Hinata's smile is chilled. "I am not alone, sir. I am waiting for my friend to return."

Undoubtedly sensing the difference in her, he straightens up, watching her with razor-sharp red eyes, reading into her deeper than she's used to being stared at. "Something's happened," he says astutely.

"Yes..." Hinata says slowly, lowering her eyes back to the ground, finding the weeds and watching them flow gently in the breeze. "My parents both just passed within the last few days," she blurts before she can stop herself.

The young man frowns at her words, a touch of sympathy in his eyes. "I am sorry."

Hinata shakes her head. "Don't be. You didn't kill them."

"Maybe so," he concedes, "but that doesn't mean that you don't deserve someone to apologize to you. You may never get it from the person or people who did it."

That was so true it actually hurt her. Hinata didn't know all of the details of who exactly killed her father, other than he died against the Senju in "glorious battle" as had been described to her. She wants to scream at him. There is no such thing as a glorious battle that ends with someone dying. She didn't believe that for one moment, a battle ending alongside one's life. It's one thing if it is to protect oneself or someone that they love, but this was for something that no one even remembers anymore and it drives her crazy.

She hates that her little brother and father had to die for this war. She hates that tomorrow more people will die in this war. She hates that no one seems to be able to see this with as much clarity as she does.

"No," Hinata says sadly, her voice cracking a bit. "I may n-never get an apology." She swallows. Nor does she believe she deserves it. Her father, while nice and good to her, has killed many people in his life. He's not exactly innocent, like her mother, but that doesn't make missing him any easier. It's a bitter pill to swallow that her father and mother will never be able to see their clan see peace. And that may be the saddest thing of all. They both lived their entire lives in constant war and fear for each and every day.

Hinata opens her eyes and looks up at the older boy in front of her. "You speak like you know the feeling."

He sighs, looking up at the sky, judging the time by the sun, before looking back down at her. "I do. I know what it's like to lose someone I care about and never really knowing why or who did it."

Hinata stares at him for a long, drawn-out moment before whispering softly, "I'm sorry." Then, a little louder, somehow feeling just a smidge better, she says, "I'm sorry for the loss of those you love."

He blinks slowly, red eyes sad while his face is otherwise emotionless. "Thank you," he says simply. "And you, as well. I am sorry for those that you lost. Those precious to you. May you find comfort in their life, rather than agony in their death."

Hinata is stunned into silence, not knowing how to respond to those words. Thankfully, she doesn't have to. Another man breaks from the flow of people off to her left, waving at the white-haired man to come along they "found what they were looking for" and needed him to oversee. He nodded and looks back over at Hinata for a long moment before tipping his head and bidding her farewell.

Hinata had to squeeze her eyes closed and bow her head to stop from crying outright at his words. Such powerful words she will remember for a long time to come. She didn't care to see him off and he didn't seem to mind. He easily vanished into the crowd once more without another word. Hinata stays like that, stunned and pained, until Ai returns with the beads in hand, ready to go home.

The dark haired Princess takes the ordinary, yet rustic looking beads, knowing those were probably the perfect ones for her father - preferring simple over extravagant, anyhow - and holding them tight to her chest. She will fill them with love. She will rejoice in the good, happy moments in his life, and hope that somehow he finds peace in death and is with her mother. Somewhere kind and warm and full of love. Somewhere as far away from the war and death that surrounds them here.

* * *

The older Uchiha woman, well into her years with lined, sagging skin and one milky eye, pats Hinata's hand lovingly. A small smile crossing thin lips as Hinata wraps the blanket around her shoulders.

"Thank you, Princess," the old woman says. "The warm summer breeze brings a chill to these old bones."

Hinata smiles kindly, brushing the loose fringe framing her face away from her eyes. "Auntie, don't say that. I'm very glad to help you."

The old woman leans back in the rocking chair she has on her porch, staring out over the camp with a haunted expression from years of living in a wartorn clan. She comes back to herself after a moment and looks back over at Hinata with her good eye. "How old are you now, Princess?"

"Seventeen," Hinata says.

"When was that again?"

"The winter, Auntie. A few months ago. It's summertime now," Hinata says delicately. The woman rubs at her forehead before pulling the blanket more around herself, shaking her head as if trying to understand Hinata's words.

"Ah yes, I remember," she says. Hinata doesn't really believe her, but she doesn't say that aloud. It was one of the travesties of getting old, she supposes, though many don't actually get to experience that, perhaps Auntie was lucky in that regard. It was all a matter of preference if she had to guess. Some would rather die young and strong, like her brothers, while she was perfectly content with growing old and weathered, surrounded by those that she loved.

She honestly felt that it was better that way.

"I'm good now, Princess," Auntie says, reaching out to pat Hinata's hand. "I want to sit out here and enjoy the sunlight. Thank you for stopping by, dear. I do appreciate it."

That, Hinata didn't doubt for a moment. She liked coming out here too just to check on the little old woman. Somehow, even though she was surrounded on all sides by family, Hinata didn't doubt that the old woman didn't get many visitors. Everyone else lived such fast pace lives that it was easy to forget those that were slowed down by injury or time. Or both.

She must be lonely. So Hinata comes to visit often. Anything to help alleviate the loneliness, even if it's only a little bit. Hinata hangs around for a bit longer, watching as the old woman stares out over the camp with a single, faraway eye as her mind wonders. She seems peaceful enough, and Hinata is resigned to coming back in a few hours to check on her again before her granddaughter comes home from running errands around the camp.

Standing, Hinata kisses the top of her Auntie's head before backing off of the porch to head toward the center of camp to see if there was anything else that may need her attention. Without her brothers here, she's been left in charge, as per usual. She's grown used to running the camp as her brothers have spent more and more time away from home and on the front lines.

Perhaps naively, Hinata had somehow hoped that with Madara now in charge, things would change, that the war would somehow come to an end. But that wasn't the case. It was excuse after excuse. After her parents died, they fell into a strange universe in which Madara and Izuna are on the same side, agreeing that going to war was the only thing that they can do to bring honor to their family after the death of their clan leader. No matter how many times Hinata tried to talk to Madara in private about this insanity, Madara has managed to avoid her.

He is literally running away from her and having to own up to whatever his mindset is right at this moment. Hinata is almost to her last straw. She can't believe that Madara was talking the talk his entire life and now that he has to power to put an end to this madness he's got cold feet. He knows that she's going to ask him to stop this, and so he's basically running away from her.

"Princess! Princess Hinata!"

Pulling from her thoughts, Hinata looks up to see one of her clansmen running toward her, his face pinched in apprehension. Hinata's stomach drops to her feet, holding her in place as he runs up to her. He looks around at the other clansmen walking about, keeping his voice low he leans in close to her ear and whispers, "I have terrible news, Princess. It's Izuna-sama. He has been mortally wounded in a battle against the Senju heir."


	4. Stand

**Author's Note: I am so sorry for the long wait! I love the attention that this story is getting. I really appreciate it! This chapter is a curious one, in which I test my Hinata character. She's super OOC in this one, but I'm hoping she's not so bad that people dislike her. I know I can't please everyone, but I like it. ^.^ I have recently gone through a bit of plagiarism on Reincarnation, for those of you who are reading that story and saw the author's note there, so I'm trying to push onward with my stories and hope that everyone just enjoys! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

 **Warning: OOCness, language, talk of death.**

 **Word Count: 5,486**

It felt like the world was collapsing around her as Hinata pushes her way through the crowd of mediocre healers who have killed more Uchiha than saved them, to the bed where her twin brother laying prone in front of her. Her hands tremble hard as she reaches over and lightly touches Izuna's face, this terrible stabbing pain in her chest that she's been ignoring for a few hours now has increased tenfold. She doesn't believe in psychic twin connection, but she does know that her chakra and Izuna's are linked together.

There is a bond through their chakra.

"Izuna..." Hinata whispers, reaching out to touch his cheek, red with a fever and clammy with sweat. There is a smell coming off of him. A horrible smell that she could only associate with infection. She lightly presses her thumb into the purpling skin beneath his eye, noting that he hadn't been sleeping well for a long time now, and had to wonder if this had something to do with him getting hurt.

Or if the Senju heir, legendary for his speed, was simply so much faster than him?

She honestly doesn't care. It doesn't matter what elements led to this moment other than one; they were still at war with the Senju over _nothing_. The only thing that matters is Hinata is staring down at her twin as his life is slipping away from him. Once more Hinata was losing a brother.

"Fix him!" Hinata says, looking over at the healers gathered around the room. She looks from face to face, when no one spoke up right away. "Please! Someone fix him!"

The oldest healer, a stern-faced old man, frowns down at Izuna as if he's already lost hope. But he promises. He promises to try. He promises to try to save Izuna's life like he doesn't already have despair and dejection written across his face. He looks like he has already given up. He's already lost faith in his own ability to save Izuna's life and Hinata can't even look at him anymore.

Against her better nature, Hinata wants to scream at him. She wants to punch and kick and somehow force him to figure out how to fix her twin brother. Like if he couldn't just do it out of the kindness of his heart and a strong sense of duty, then somehow she could simply force him. She knows he is doing the best he can. In the back of her mind, she knows he is trying, but she can't help but feel that more could be done. This can't be the end of Izuna. This can't be how he dies. Not here. Not for this war.

Not for a war no one even really knows what they are fighting over anymore. This is completely and utterly _ridiculous_.

Her twin brother was going to die because their healers were incompetent, this war was idiotic and everyone involved appears to have their heads in the clouds. Madara and Izuna included. It's not fair. Hinata lost her father and her baby brother to this stupid war, now it was demanding her twin's life too? No, she won't allow it!

"Don't promise me that you'll try!" Hinata snaps, glaring up at the older man. "Fix him! Please! I'm begging you!"

The healer sighs, looking sad. "I will try, Princess. That is all I can give you."

The roar in Hinata's ears is so loud, she half-thought that maybe there was a wild animal in the room with them, but her rational mind knew that wasn't the case. There was no animal. It was just her, the incompetent healers and her dying twin brother.

Hinata's not sure how long she sat there, standing vigil over her twin while he suffers in his sleep. At some point, she's not sure when, Madara snuck into the room, lowering down next to her. She didn't look at him, didn't move when he entered the room or when he sat next to her. She just sat there, staring at her brother. Every time she becomes aware of herself, she would reach out for the rag on his forehead, pull it off and clean it up. Then she would wed down the rag with cold water and put it back on his forehead.

Her back, neck, and hips hurt the longer she sits like that, but she doesn't move, even to adjust the way she's sitting. She just keeps quietly caring for her twin in hopes that somehow he will be able to fight this fever the infection is forcing on him and somehow he would be okay. He would wake up tired and in pain, but okay and then she would talk him out of this war for good.

"Hinata..?" Madara whispers in the darkness as night settles around them. She doesn't remember lunch or evening passing them by, but now candles around the room and the gentle glow of the moonlight through the only window is the only light. But Hinata can see fine.

"What happened?" Hinata asks softly, her hands rolled up into fists on her thighs. "What happened to Izuna?"

Madara shifts a bit next to her. He doesn't respond right away and Hinata doesn't even move to look at him. Her eyes are still settled on her twin's body. His breathing is heavy and his bare chest is glistening with sweat. He has a tortured expression on his face and will occasionally groan softly in pain. Or maybe he's having nightmares between the frail waking moments he has.

"What happened to him, Aniki...?"

"He wasn't faster than the Senju heir..." Madara says, his lips barely moving. He blinks a few times quickly. "He wasn't... he wasn't fast enough..."

Hinata blinks slowly. "Fast enough..? For what?"

Madara shakes his head slowly. "Tobirama used his speed to get the better of Izuna. He didn't stand a chance. He wasn't fast enough to avoid the strike."

The anger fires through Hinata faster than the strike that wounded Izuna. "Fast enough? _Fast enough?"_ She spins on her eldest brother next to her. "What are you talking about? _What are you talking about?_ " She turns her lilac colored eyes on the large black eyes of her brother. "This never would have happened if this war had ended! If you had put a stop to the killing and this idiotic war, Izuna would be okay! He wouldn't be laying in this bed dying!"

Hinata doesn't scream. She doesn't yell. She doesn't raise her voice at anyone, especially her eldest brother. She loved her twin, she had a bond with Izuna on a level no one else could ever be on, but Madara was special. From the moment she was born, he was special to her and she was to him. The bond that they share transcends regularity. They are like two halves of the same whole. More often than not, Hinata and Madara were on the same page. They just seemed to see the world much the same way. Izuna and Hinata couldn't be more different, but they were just as close.

She and Izuna may fight and argue, but she has never raised her voice. Not to Izuna and never at Madara. Not until today.

Madara stares back at her with wide eyes. He didn't expect that any more than Hinata did. She isn't that sort of person who would disrespect her eldest brother by yelling at him like that. But... she was. She was yelling at Madara.

"This war should have been over the moment father died and the clan passed on to you! The moment Hashirama Senju was made clan leader! Had this war ended then, Izuna wouldn't be dying in this bed!" Her hands hurt with how hard she's squeezing them. She looks away from Madara and down to her twin, feeling pain pulsate in her chest in sync with her heartbeat.

"Hinata, the healers - "

"They gave up," Hinata whispers harshly, tears streaming from her eyes. "They've already given up on him."

Madara frowns at her. "No, they haven't. No one is giving up on anyone. They are going to save him."

Hinata stares at him, closing her eyes for a moment feeling more tears slide down her cheeks before she opens them again to look at the worried expression flashing over her eldest brother's face. "Madara... you know as well as I do, there is no way that these healers will be able to help Izuna. If he heals at all it will be from his own strength, not from them. They aren't properly trained, never were. It's not their fault, but they do more harm than help."

Madara doesn't respond right away, a deep crease forming between his eyes. He looks down at Izuna, lips pressed together tight, unable to deny her words. Hinata knows that she is right because she's thrown his own words back at him. When their mother fell ill for the last time, he said that very same thing.

"They aren't properly trained, never were. It's not their fault, but they do more harm than help."

That was such an Izuna thing to do, throwing Madara's own words back at him. So much separates Hinata and her twin. Much of their personality differs from one another and yet in moments like this, it seems even Hinata can channel her twin with pinpoint accuracy. It was almost cruel and Hinata felt bad the moment the words left her mouth. She would never intentionally be mean to anyone, especially her beloved brother. The bond she has with Madara is special, always has been, and she knows that he will forgive her for her words, but she still feels bad for it.

Hinata looks down at her struggling twin, shame coloring her cheeks. "I am so sorry, aniki. I... I just don't understand. How could this happen..?"

"Izuna wasn't..."

Hinata looks over at him, her eyebrows pulled so tightly together she can feel the strain on her face. "Madara, this isn't about Izuna. Why is this war going on? What about ending it? What happened with that? About what we talked about?"

Madara closes his eyes, sighing loudly. "Those were the ideals of a starry-eyed dreamer, Hinata. I was but a naive boy when we talked about that."

Hinata almost channels Izuna again, ready to scoff at his words and shake her head at him. Both of which are actions very much like Izuna, but not like Hinata.

"No, brother," Hinata says softly. "You were right. You were right in your belief. We both were. Father and Izuna were wrong. No one wants this war anymore. No one even remembers what we are fighting about. This has to end. It has to. How many more family members are we going to put into unmarked graves that will fade from memory until we are buried in those unmarked graves where no one will be able to remember. Why do we all have to hurt and be sad through life until we are forgotten in death by our loved ones."

Madara frowns at her words. "That's enough, Hinata."

"It's true!" Hinata insists, reaching out and taking her eldest brother's hand. "Please, Anaki! Put an end to this! Right now!"

Madara pulls his hand away, moving swiftly to his feet. "Izuna isn't going to die, Hinata. That's final."

"Brother, please!" Hinata jumps to her feet too, following him to the door. "Madara, please wait!"

Madara slips his shoes on faster than Hinata even left the room and is already halfway to the forest before she manages to get hers on and looks up to follow him to the forest but he's already leagues ahead of her. She follows him deeper into the forest, but his form gets further and further ahead of her. He leaves her in the dust with ease. Hinata slows down as her brother's form vanishes in the trees. Heavily breathing, and away from the compound, Hinata looks around the forest, feeling fresh tears well up in her eyes.

She brushes them away and walks over to the nearest tree and lowers down in front of it, leaning her back into the rough bark to rub at her eyes. She sits there for a long time, thinking about all sorts of things. About her parents, this war, Madara, Izuna. All things that plummet her mood even more. She can't believe she yelled at Madara. That was so unlike her. She shouldn't have yelled at him. Izuna is his brother too. His mind is probably whirling too. In just a few short months, their worlds have been flipped upside down.

This has been hard on all of them, and Madara has been handling it with so much more grace than she is. There has to be something that has been stopping him from ending this war, she just can't see it. She knows Madara. She knows that he wouldn't continue with this senseless killing unless there was a very good reason. There had to be.

She just didn't know what to do now.

Izuna needs her to do something. But she isn't a healer. She doesn't have any skills other than the utmost basics in that as it is. But Izuna's body is going haywire, he doesn't have the strength to heal from the injury as well as the infection that she can already smell on him. He's... fading so quickly. Something has to be done. But they don't have the means. Or maybe they do. They simply don't have the knowledge.

If they had the knowledge, they might be able to find that certain herb or concoction that would boost Izuna's immune system and help him heal.

"Medical ninjutsu might be able to save him," Hinata whispers mournfully, rubbing at her face. She's no longer crying but her face feels puffy. She squeezes her eyes closed again, feeling exhaustion washing over her. She doesn't know medical ninjutsu either. None of the Uchiha do. It's just not something that they practiced. To be honest, no one really knew medical ninjutsu could even be a thing before Hashirama Senju and his prowess in it.

Hinata blinks, pulling her hands away from her face to stare at the wildflowers in front of her, blowing gently in the breeze. The sway is slow and peaceful, but beckoning somehow. Urging her to continue down the mental path that she has been going down.

She doesn't have medical ninjutsu to help her out or medical knowledge that she can take back to her people and use it to help Izuna. But maybe there was someone who did. Someone who may be willing to help her. But that would mean doing something that she really shouldn't do. Something that could get her into serious trouble. Something that would put Madara into a very precarious situation. If she does what she's thinking about doing, she could be kicked out of the clan. She could be disowned and left for dead. Or she could be killed on the spot.

But Izuna... Izuna's life is so much more important than that. It would all be worth it so long as he lives. She will accept any punishment from her family so long as Izuna lives. She simply cannot, in any way, shape or form, allow her brother to die when there is a chance that she would be able to save his life. He is her twin, the other half of her soul. She has to save him. She has to.

No, she should stop. She needs to think clearly. Maybe she's overreacting and Izuna will be okay. There is no need to be rash. She will just return to the medical hut and do what she can to help him. Provide him with fresh water and clean the sweat from his body, maybe hunt down some more herbs to help him. Or, make the vegetable soup that he loves from the plants she grew herself.

"Better than any other, dear sister," Izuna would say before digging in. "Almost my favorite meals when you make them." It used to be a rare occasion until their mother got sick, then she was cooking all the time. But Izuna would always compliment her cooking. It never ceased to make her blush in embarrassment. They couldn't be more different and Izuna was rougher with her than Madara was, but he knew how to be kind too. And he always picked the perfect times to do it too. She loved dinner with her brothers. That was when the rest of the world fell away. No war. No death. They weren't three siblings orphaned too soon.

They were three siblings that loved each other and were happy to spend time together.

She wants, more than anything, to go home to Izuna healthy and lively. But the pain in her chest is getting stronger. Maybe that pain is all in her head, but one thing she knows, Izuna isn't going to survive if she doesn't do something. No matter what.

Before she can chicken out, Hinata climbs to her feet, stretches out her amazing sight as far as it will go, and heads in the direction of the Senju compound. She's not sure what her family will do to her if they realize what she's done, but that won't mean anything if the Senju kill her on sight. But either way... either way, she has to try.

They came into the world together, there is no way Hinata is going to live in it without him.

* * *

Hinata knew they were following her.

She can see them perfectly with her super-powered eyes. They don't know she sees them and they have been giving her a wide berth, but watching carefully. She has to assume that there are a few different things going on in the Senju patrols' minds. Either she's lost, or a spy, or someone just passing through, or something. But they are a clan at war. So they are careful.

She doesn't mind them, though. So long as they don't try and stop her, she doesn't mind. She's glad that today was the day she wore her hair half down. With how long it is, she is able to hide her family crest emblazoned on her back. At least long enough to get close to the Senju leader and speak with him. From everything she knows about Hashirama, he sounds like a good man and wouldn't hurt her, but Hinata's not sure about his clansmen. They may see her as a threat regardless and kill her on principal alone.

So at least she's got that going for her.

Hinata makes it to the outside of the compound, fifteen feet away to see a collection of Senju men waiting for her. They haven't armed themselves yet, but they are watching her with dark eyes, ready to strike like angry vipers at their prey. She won't show them she's afraid.

Even though she is very, very afraid.

"State your business, stranger," one of the older men says, glaring at her. His dark brown hair is graying heavily on the top of his head and in his beard and mustache.

"I am here to speak to the Senju clan leader," Hinata says, willing her voice not to shake. She grips her hands tightly in front of her to keep them in their sight, but to grip them tightly into fists to stop them from shaking too. She rolls her shoulders back.

"Why would we send for our Lord?" The man sneers. "Go away."

"Now," someone says, and the group of men part ways immediately for that person to walk through them, "that is no way to speak to a girl, uncle."

The man looks away. "Yes, my lord."

Hashirama Senju walks through the men to stand before all of them. He looks Hinata up and down. Dark brown eyes wide and kind. So very kind she can actually see it clear as day.

His eyes find hers and he says, calmly, "Are you okay?"

Hinata feels her anxiety fade a bit as a small smile works its way across her face. She stops it before it spreads too far but she is thankful to him. He seems very genuine. This brings her back to the day of the fire that threatened the Uchiha clan compound. How Hashirama asked her if she was okay while she was trying to help put the fire out.

Standing beside him, if she recalls correctly was the Senju heir. The white devil.

Someone steps out from behind Hashirama. A very familiar shock of white hair and beautiful red eyes stare back at her, wide and confused, just as much as she is.

Tobirama.

She blinks rapidly, trying to understand what she's seeing, her stomach plummeting to her feet. Tobirama, the man she met in the nearby village. Tobirama, the Senju heir. Tobirama, the man that inflicted a wound on Izuna that he's not healing from. That nice man who helped her is the same man who may kill her brother. They are the exact same person. She didn't realize it.

"Hinata..." Tobirama says, red eyes wide. He blinks a few times. "What are you doing here?"

Hashirama looks back and forth between his brother and Hinata, confused. "You know her, brother?"

"We met in the nearby village," Tobirama says, narrowing his eyes a bit. "What are you doing here?"

Hinata swallows thickly. "I am here to ask for your aid," she looks over at Hashirama, "Lord Senju. My brother needs your help." She looks into his eyes, taking a few steps closer to him until she's just in front of him. "Please, my lord. I have no one else to go to. I know how this may sound, and the i-irony isn't lost on me, but I need your help. You are the only one who can save him."

Hashirama sways back in forth a bit, staring into her eyes thinking the same thing that everyone thinks when they see her.

"I can see you fine, my lord," Hinata says, watching his face as he sways.

Hashirama blinks in surprise. "Your brother is hurt? What happened?" He says instead of question her words, looking embarrassed about being caught.

Hinata hesitates. They don't realize who she is yet. She can't believe it. Hinata lowers down onto her knees before him. "My lord, my name is Hinata Uchiha," she can't look at Tobirama. She can't see the shock and confusion spread across his face, "and my brother was mortally wounded in the war against the Senju. He will die if you don't help him."

"You're an Uchiha?" Tobirama spits, red eyes narrowed in anger. Hashirama spares him a half glance, frowning in worry before looking back over at the younger girl in front of him.

Hinata turns pretty lilac eyes toward the Senju heir, sadly. "And you are a Senju. I suppose we were both caught off guard."

Tobirama opens his mouth, about to accuse her of something, she's sure, before her words sink in and his mouth closes slowly. He studies her face and her eyes, trying to decide if he believes she was just as surprised as he was, or if she had somehow planned this to get close to him for one reason or another. While he's figuring that, Hinata looks over at Hashirama.

"My brother was wounded by yours, my lord."

Hashirama blinks in surprise, then sadness washes over his face. He presses his lips closed for a moment before saying, quietly, "Tobirama hurt your brother?"

Hinata nods. "Yes. Izuna Uchiha is my brother." Surprise and horror spread across Hashirama and Tobirama's faces, while the Senju around them share looks with wide eyes. "Tobirama-sama gave him a wound across his chest. A terrible infection that he either picked up in their travels back to our home after the battle or was there already has prevented him from healing and he's..." she chokes, feeling sadness rush through her. Her voice hitches. She has to look down at the dirt beneath her for a moment. "He... he-he's not getting better. He's going to die if you don't help him."

Hashirama stares at her, his eyebrows pulled together tightly. "Izuna's sister... then Madara is..."

Hinata looks back up at him. "Madara is my eldest brother, yes."

The confirmation of her connection to the leader of the Uchiha clan makes all of the Senju behind the brothers begin whispering to themselves, eyeing her with dark intentions. Tobirama's frown is deep and troubled. Indecision is written across his face. Hinata can't look at them. She can't focus on them and what they may want to do to her. She's in dangerous territory and the only thing she has on her side is years old stories from Madara about what a great man that Hashirama is. Or, at least, what he was when Madara originally told her those stories.

She can only pray that he hasn't changed all that much.

One of the Senju men whispers something that Hinata didn't catch but Hashirama jerks his head in that direction without actually turning around and snapping in a strong, sharp voice, "Enough!" They, along with Hinata and Tobirama, jump at his voice. Everyone falls silent. A strong breeze works its way across the field, pulling at everyone's hair and clothes. Hinata uses the silence to take a few, shaky breaths, praying to each and every god and goddess the Uchiha believe in that this wasn't a huge mistake.

 _Izuna_ , she reminds herself to keep her resolve strong, _Izuna needs me. He needs me to make this work._

Hashirama waits another moment to see if anyone else is going to say something before turning back to Hinata, taking a step closer and kneeling down in front of her with large, sad, dark brown eyes. "About Izuna... I'm sorry. I wish there was something that I could do for you."

Hinata practically lunges at him, grabbing his hands in her own, heart pounding in her ears. The Senju tense up, some even pulling out their weapons in defense of their clan leader but pause seeing she hasn't actually attacked. True to his legendary speed, Tobirama is right behind Hashirama, ready to rip her off his brother the moment she makes another threatening movement.

"You c-c-can!" Hinata insists, staring into Hashirama's sad eyes pleadingly. "You are a legendary healer! My bro-brother says - my brother says so himself! If anyone can fix him, it's you!"

Hashirama takes her hands gently in his own. "Perhaps, but I cannot go to the Uchiha compound. No one wants me there, nor would they accept my help if I offered,"

"I want you there," Hinata says, desperately clinging to her hope. "I'm asking for your help."

"No one else would, though," Hashirama says softly, giving her hands a gentle squeeze, dark eyes shining with sympathy and sadness. "I am so sorry. My thoughts are with you all. Maybe it's not as bad. Izuna is stronger than you give him credit for. Maybe he will pull through this with a gnarly scar and a crazy story to tell his grandkids someday." His optimism is fleeting and half-hearted. His kind smile is genuine and hopeful.

Tears slide down Hinata's cheeks and Hashirama's smile fades. "Izuna and I are twins, my lord. I feel his pain in my chest." She blinks slowly, feeling globs of tears glide down the pathways on her face and fall from her chin. "I feel him fading." She whispers. "Please..." she says brokenly, gripping his hands tighter. "Please do something! Please. I will do anything! Just do something to help me, please!"

Hashirama stares back at her with a look of devastation on his face. He opens his mouth to say something when a sharp, angry voice cuts through the air.

"Hashirama!"

Hinata's neck hurts with the force she twists around to see Madara at the tree line holding the very same two Senju patrols that followed her all the way here. One is walking in front of Madara with his arm twisted unnaturally behind him, his face twisted into actual agony, while the other is clawing at the hand Madara has over his throat.

The nature sage's dark eyes widen as the Senju men, including Tobirama, unsheath their weapons, pointing them at the Uchiha clan leader. Madara's blazing Mangekyo Sharingan makes most of them start to tremble when he gives them a disgusted half glance as if they were miles beneath him. His eyes land on Tobirama for a moment and the angry snarl on his face twists into something unnatural and demonic, Mangekyo spinning threateningly, before finally looking to his one-time childhood friend.

"Release my sister now," he demands, his voice deep and gravelly.

Hashirama pulls his hands from Hinata's standing slowly and stepping around her to look at the angry Uchiha patriarch. He holds his palms up toward the black-haired man, face settling into a hard expression. "Peace, Madara."

"Brother," Hinata pops to her feet, "I'm not-"

Madara glares at her. "Silence! I will deal with you later!"

Hinata's cowed immediately. Madara's anger has never been directed at her. Never. No, his anger isn't this. This is something so much more powerful than anger. This is actual rage. This isn't like Madara. He was never like this before.

"Nii-san," Hinata says. She has to try again. He has to understand that the Senju aren't the enemies. Not anymore. The anger and pain fueling this war are. It doesn't have to be like this anymore. There can be peace. For all of them. He has to understand that she's doing this for everyone. Too many people were destroyed by this war. Too many families torn apart by it. They all deserve better than this. She was doing it for their hearts and their bodies. People can find more joy in life if they didn't have to stress about this war every waking moment.

She was doing it for their souls too. Too many people dead long before their bodies caught up. It's not fair. Everyone deserves the chance to live. Too many people on both sides - Senju and Uchiha, as well as the respective clan allied with both - have already lost that chance for so many of their people. It has to end now.

Madara's Sharingan turned on her chills her to the core, more than any winter storm ever could. Madara has never turned his Sharingan on her with so much rage and _hatred_ burning in those depths like molten lava. This isn't her brother. No wonder he's having such a tough time ending this war. This pain. This anger. This rage. It's taken ahold of him so tightly he can't let go.

Hinata won't let him suffer. Not like Izuna, not alone. She won't let this vile negativity burn like an infestation in her brothers so strong neither will live to see the end of this war.

"Not. Now." Madara's voice is so dark, it's not even his anymore. It belongs to something so much eviler than anything a human being should be capable.

Hashirama looks down at his clansmen as one turns purple from lack of air while the other howls in agony as his arm is twisted harshly. "Madara, stop this! Hinata is not a prisoner!"

"Liar!" Madara snarls.

"Enough!" Hinata yells, stepping in front of Hashirama, staring back into the eyes that should belong to her favorite brother, but inside she sees an angry, spiteful demon stare back at her. There is a flicker of surprise across his face as a piece of the brother she loves returns to his own body.

"Hinata..."

"That is enough, brother," Hinata says with her soft voice in a harsh whisper. "Release those men. Now."


End file.
